Yes, we are still following what we decided on back in March. We all go on a bike ride daily.......the trails are generally pretty empty and it’s too hot to mask. Everyone in very polite and careful about distance. We are still going on beach walks twice a week while the kids swim/board. We are very careful about staying far away from all. These outings keep us sane. All our shopping is all online and curbside. No one has been in a store since March. I still clean my groceries....... Our only addition is we have started doing curbside pickup from 3 carefully chosen restaurants. We reheat it all very carefully. Carry out definitely no longer reduces dishes!

@Lori D. I haven’t started The Two Towers yet but definitely plan to. Thank you so much for your wonderful notes!

I don’t think I have ever read them but have to say they look really good. A few are availiable on Kindle......let me know if you try them. Yeah! Availiable via my Overdrive so I am on hold for it. I am trying really hard to get back to my 10 x 10 challenges.

Thanks for the new thread Robin! I read A Madness in Sunshine before ever reading a Psy Changling and have to say really different styles. I am ready to start spelling the authors name. I normally plan the letters at the start of the month from my book shelves and check out a book or two extra for odd letters. I don’t think about it again until the end of the month.......well, this month I abandoned so many books I ended up way short on letters and had to really scramble to finish probably the shortest author name of the year! I will post the MM Kaye books later but I read Husband Material by Emily Beldon for an E. Husband Material was a contemporary Romance that is on some beach read type lists this summer......it may appear fluffy but it wasn’t a peaceful read......rather depressing. It kept me up late to finish it because all of the trauma relating to the main character’s five year dead husband just seemed to keep coming. I decided to read to the conclusion and get it over with. I thought the writing style to be confusing..........it was really hard to figure out what was foreshadowing and what I was supposed to know. Sort of a “Not a favorite “ but I had to finish it after I started in order not to have bad dreams..🤷‍♀️so a really odd page turner! 😂 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42867785-husband-material I also finished listening to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which was the prequel for The Hunger Games. I loved the first half and was OK with most of the second half. I found the ending pretty disenchanting if I am honest........I am not saying I hated the book just that the ending wasn’t what I wanted. This book did explain a great deal to me about the fictional world of the Hunger Games, the setting was in what I would class as the nearish future after the war that turned North America into PanAm......my kids still want to read it and I want them to! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51901147-the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes

Have you ever read Betty Neels? https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/betty-neels/ I recently discovered that I have a few availiable on Overdrive and am actually reading The Quiet Professor right now. Easy clean reading........my first Harlequin was a Betty Neels romance. The main characters are almost always a sweet British nurse and a Dutch Consultant. After reading the linked bit I know why!😂

First, I know Tuesday is OK because I see her on Goodreads but I really miss her here. I have never read Elizabeth Cadell but do know I have seen them on a British friend’s bookshelf......she isn’t the type that actually loans books. Having problems and lost a large part of my post........ @Robin M I almost asked you to send a Soulwood extra my way then realized if you can’t see it I probably can’t either. 😂 It popped up on my Overdrive yesterday after you posted and I am third on the list so my wait won’t be long! @

FWIW I really like Pillars of the Earth. Somewhat funny story ......when my kids were still smallish(Ds was around 10) and just starting their bell ringing careers we visited the church in James Herriot’s actual hometown Thirsk and had a long conversation with a really enthusiastic rather elderly docent at the church regarding all things bells and church construction. After a long conversation he recommended my kids read Pillars because a Cathedral is built.......he learned so much etc. So I go home and do a request for Pillars which I wasn’t sure I was familiar with. I receive a 1000 page chunkster that includes a rather brutal r*pe scene that overshadows the entire book.😳 This lovely man seriously recommended the book for my kids 😂..........it’s a good thing I preread everything at that point! @Dreamergal My family is currently back living in the US while my kids attend grad school but we lived in England for most of my children’s childhood.

I didn’t know about Ryder so I will try and catch up this week!😁Thanks......... I still need to reread Circle of the Moon in my Faith Hunter reread........looking forward to hearing about what you think of Spells of the Dead.

Now for what I have been reading..... Deathless Divide https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45486444-deathless-divide which is the second book in a series where I loved the first but the second didn’t live up to expectations. It was one of my most anticipated books for this year btw. It was long, over 500 pages and felt extremely long winded. Not sure if there will be more in the series or not but I am ambivalent ........It isn’t really Steampunk but because I renamed that 10x10 category Clocks and Corsets thanks to @Robin M I decided I deserved to count it just because I was forced to read repetively how restrictive one of the character’s corset was. There were some odd technological elements for the 1800’s just not much steam....... Lone Wolfhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28495143-lone-wolf Some of you may remember my disappointment in a book a couple of weeks ago that I checked out for the search and rescue dog component where the dog was barely included ......A few of us had I good time trying to find a rescue dog book for me to read and this is the first read. I liked it. It was a lighter suspense book somewhat similar to a Laura Griffin without the romantic element. The second in the series happened to be $1.99 for kindle when I finished the first so I bought it. My library only has the first. MI am still happily working my way through several series. I read the second in Jana Deleon’s Miss Fortune series and still found them entertaining. I have been working really hard on a new quilt and finished both a Kim Harrison and a Psy Changling on audio. Next up on audio is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which is the prequel to the Hunger Games. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51901147-the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4mGDElPHOk&rank=1 I hope I like it.

Can’t remember if I already commented but Dd loved the Seraphina books and I read the earlier ones with her. I enjoyed them. Glad to see you here! I loved the Little House books but my daughter probably only read them only so I would quit talking about them.....😉 I just went and looked at this book again.....It looks good and has a secret chocolate recipe storyline from the description I read. I try to read at least one of the Booker Prize books each year and haven’t found one for this year yet. This one is long but sounds interesting so adding it to the list. I am going to have to try these. Like you my library starts later in the series so becoming motivated is a problem for this series reader . Let me know what you think after you make the jump to four as my library starts there also. The gals in my patchwork group in England seem to really enjoy the series and copies have been passed around in the past, I just couldn’t grab the first ones without being rude. I read this many years ago and enjoyed it. I believe there was a movie.......not as good as the book naturally.😉 I think I actually read it for a modern/contemporary literature class ........probably the same one where I read Brave New World etc. Welcome @Dreamergal @marbel You have been missed!

😂I know rather a lot about cherry blossoms irl because I grew up on a fruit farm but doubt that will help me with Manga in the slightest! Looking forward to seeing you over on BaW!

You are totally welcome! Everyone is welcome which is the great thing about BaW....... Btw, I would like to learn more about Manga so I would love it if you joined!

Praying....

Ds has downloaded a few books........per Dd several old Sci Fi and Middlemarch are the contenders. So War and Peace is out. Trying to encourage Island of Doctor Moreau as he will like that one! Mom only contributed one comment.......”you might like Dr. Moreau!” Yeah, me.

I am curious...................... hoping they publish the contributing factors with numbers eventually. A breakdown would be so informative. http://cbs12.com/news/local/i-team-deaths-incorrectly-attributed-to-covid-19-in-palm-beach-county

Thank you! My collection is growing.😁

No idea where he found his book list and no way am I bringing it up with him again.........I don’t want to discourage his efforts accidentally. I am hoping he lets me know his next choice in case we have a better translation! It was related to Gutenberg freebies . I think it could be this list as The Brothers Karamazov is in the right place on the list. https://www.thesimpledollar.com/book-reviews/50-excellent-free-books-from-project-gutenberg-and-how-to-easily-read-them/

My son who resisted reading “literature” during high school somehow became a reader. My momma heart was shocked to discover he has read The Brothers Karmazov during lockdown by choice.......he is actually following a list of literature everyone should read.😉

Only that one time.........The village librarian fixed her up with me because she thought I would be the best tour guide for an American author 😂 plus she knew with home ed I had pretty much obsessed about locations and could give instructions the author could follow.......how to get there and where to park. She had a rental car and I had kids/home Ed.........so I didn’t spend days with her, I did take her up the tower for bells etc.

Pretty sure the Greenwode book is by an author I showed around Robin Hood country several years ago. I have her book physically someplace but never read it but think the cover looks right. She was extremely enthusiastic and loved history........

@melmichigan @Kareni I finished Finder and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

It is so hard right now to keep myself from getting lost in an endless rabbit trail of stuff that I don’t necessarily even want, need, or care about. At the moment I seem to be finding my way back to a sort of reading normal by keeping a stash of lighter books on hand. I am abandoning books quicker if they don’t hold my interest because that just increases the rabbit trails. I am reading a great deal of romantic suspense which has always been my favorite escape genre.

Hugs! I have a couple of Space Opera ideas. I thought A Pale Light in the Black was pretty good https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43697435-a-pale-light-in-the-black I am currently reading Finder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40796392-finder which was recommended by one of the Linesman authors in an interview. I am only a quarter of the way through but it has potential to be really good. Dd is further along and likes it too.

Thank you for The Goblin Emperor........I have recently started collecting a few more owned books that could be read by everyone in the family and I don’t think my library has this one in book form on Overdrive so a perfect one to add. I sort of feel like having a small library that can be quickly downloaded onto all devices might be handy in the future. I have many kindle books but many of the classics have poor formatting and some modern easy reads that aren’t romances are probably needed. I was plesantly surprised to learn that my son has been reading fiction.........he is just finishing up The Brothers Karamozau and isn’t hugely impressed but ticked a box. He is picking off a list he found ...... He had format/translation complaints off Gutenberg and I explained we could probably have found a better translation via a library. He is telling me War and Peace is next with a wink because he remembers me reading it and finding the battle scenes boring! I am sure I will hear about the next book at some point.

My neighbor is due any day now and seems to be receiving great care although I haven’t had an update in awhile. Her appointments seem to have been in person but she has been deemed high risk because she is really tiny and the baby will most likely be greater than 10 lbs. The plan had been to induce but as no baby has appeared I guess that is out. Unless the induce dat was the 25th not the due date! I don’t ask and know she is incredibly nervous.......They have a dog so we see the husband all the time. It’s been a stressful time to be pregnant with your first as so much is online.